Chapter 3

To avoid disrupting the economy across different servers, “Nine Heroes” does not offer server transfer functionality. An account is born in a specific server and remains there permanently. Once a server becomes overcrowded, the official team closes its registration channel. This rule is an outlier in the industry, yet remarkably, after ten years of operation, not a single one of “Nine Heroes” servers has become a ghost town.

Apart from that, there are few restrictions—you can change your faction, alter your appearance, and even redesign your character’s facial features.

As long as you have the money.

Because of the great potential for changes, Jinghuan focused on the character’s cultivation points and basic skills when selecting an account, as these not only cost money but also require a significant amount of time.

Jinghuan had no trouble making decisions. After comparing for about ten minutes, he settled on an account—35,000, an empty account with no equipment or pets.

It suited him perfectly. He enjoyed the feeling of gradually growing stronger step by step.

Payment took only half a minute.

The system data transfer will take some time, and normal login will only be possible after half an hour. During this waiting period, Jing Huan opened the Starry Sky TV live stream and saw that the only streamer he followed was currently live. He found the person from his friends list and sent a message.

Dayday Happy: Xiao Yan, are you free?

yanxyan: Yes, what’s up?

After graduating from high school, Jing Huan would often play PUBG with Gao Zixiang and the others when he had nothing better to do. Occasionally, he would watch live streams, and yanxyan was the streamer he watched most frequently. He even generously showered the streamer with many gifts.

The two became friends because of money.

yanxyan: Wanna play? I’ve got three people here, perfect for a four-player squad.

HappyEveryday: Nah. I want to buy a voice changer, but the reviews for those Taobao shops aren’t great. Got any recommendations?

yanxyan: Voice changer? What kind are you looking for?

HappyEveryday: One that can turn me into a loli voice—the kind so sweet it makes people melt from three kilometers away.

    yanxyan：……

yanxyan：…This is a bit tricky, might need to get a sound card too. I know a few friends, I’ll ask around for you.

Happy Everyday: Alright, waiting for your update. Thanks.

yanxyan：No problem.

Not long after, the other party sent over a shop address. Jing Huan clicked on it and, without even bothering to read the product description, directly bought the most expensive one available.

The customer service representative was clearly experienced. After hearing his request, they immediately initiated remote control and quickly adjusted his sound card.

Jing Huan tested it with his thousand-dollar microphone and, satisfied, gave a glowing five-star review.

Now, only the final step remained—his face.

The game Nine Heroes, like other online games, has a character customization system. Although Jing Huan hadn’t seen what his new account looked like, a fresh start calls for a complete makeover to make the gaming experience more enjoyable.

He opened the search bar, typed “Nine Heroes character customization data,” picked the store with the highest ratings, and directly messaged their customer service.

Happily Everyday: Are you there?

Customer Service Chick: Yes, dear~ [flying kiss], Customer Service Chick at your service.

Happy Everyday: Your username isn’t very appropriate.

Customer Service Chick: …You’re overthinking it~ How can I help you today?

Have a great day every day: Customize a face for me.

Customer Service Chick: Okay, sweetie, do you have any requirements or references?

Jing Huan had no specific requests. He thought for a moment and typed.

TTKaixin: I want a face that makes men want to marry me at first sight.

Customer Service Chick: ……

If I had that kind of skill, would I still be running this lousy Taobao shop?

Customer Service Chickie: Dear customer, could you be a bit more specific?

Happy Everyday: Fine then. I want someone cute and lively yet sexy and charming, not too young but not too old either, preferably with a hint of mystique. You can improvise the rest.

The customer service rep on the other end of the computer took a deep breath, then turned and fiercely punched the stress-relief toy beside the mouse several times.

Customer Service Chickie: We’re sorry dear, but we’re afraid we can’t meet your requirements. But no worries! Taobao has many other skilled competitors of ours. May we suggest you try this shop instead.

The customer service quickly sent over the link to the enemy’s store.

Jing Huan messaged four customer service representatives in a row before finally finding a store willing to take his order.

After spending 999 yuan to customize a face, Jing Huan opened the game with satisfaction.

On the character selection screen, he made sure to carefully examine the character’s facial features.

It has to be said, it’s really quite nice-looking, showing that the original owner had some taste. Even the in-game name was poetic—”Don’t You Frown.”

Jing Huan withdrew his gaze and entered the game.

A slender and beautiful character appeared by the banks of Bianliang River.

Bianliang River was a low-level wilderness map where the monsters were scarcely hunted. Small creatures were everywhere, and Jing Huan had barely taken two steps before triggering a battle.

The account he purchased belongs to the Putuo Mountain sect, a fairy race healer. Since the fairy race female characters are more visually appealing and the sect’s skills are straightforward with minimal need for complex maneuvers, Putuo Mountain naturally became the top choice for many female players.

However, Putuo Mountain is slow at grinding monsters and offers very little room for skillful play in PvP, which is why Jing Huan doesn’t particularly like this sect.

He let out a soft “tsk,” used a skill to eliminate two monsters, and prepared to use another skill to return to his sect.

【Xiangsi Bugui has initiated a forced PvP against you.】

A talisman descended from the sky—a human faction skill, the Sealing Talisman.

Jing Huan froze for a moment but reacted swiftly, dodging the talisman.

Just as he moved to another position, a large net suddenly closed in around him. Unable to evade in time, Jing Huan found himself tightly ensnared.

Several figures appeared before him, their weapons gleaming brightly—clear indicators of high-tier equipment. Among them, two crowd-control specialists were still charging their sealing skills.

[Current] Don’t You Frown: ??

[Current] Yearning Regardless: Bitch, back for more suffering?

The other party’s immediate hostility made Jing Huan quickly realize this was likely lingering bad blood from the account’s previous owner.

[Current] Don’t You Frown: Account changed hands.

[Current] Lovesick Without Regard: This trick again? You think we’re all fools? Falling for it every time?

[Current] Don’t You Frown: ……

If it weren’t for the fact that this account still had some special uses and needed to maintain its image, he would have already cursed out loud.

[Current] Don’t You Frown: I bought it half an hour ago for 35k, I have the purchase record.

[Current] Xiangsi the Ruthless: When have you ever not had purchase records? I’m telling you, as long as I, Xiangsi, am in this server for one day, you’ll never leave the safe zone!

Jing Huan wanted to say more, but the opponent had already lashed out with their whip.

There were five players standing opposite him, and the account he bought was completely empty—it couldn’t even withstand a few hits.

Fuck this.

Jing Huan sat up straight, deftly utilizing each character’s universal moves—rolling, jumping, and ascending—to dodge their skills one by one.

[Current] Don’t You Frown: You f…

[Current] Don’t You Frown: Be reasonable!!

[Current] Lovesick Without Regret: I have no reason to talk to a scammer like you.

[Current] Don’t Frown: No, this account really changed hands… What do I need to say to make you believe me?!

Just as he finished typing this line, Jing Huan accidentally pressed the wrong key.

Damn it.

On the game screen, his fragile character took a brutal axe hit, leaving his health bar with just a sliver remaining.

[Current] Miss You Relentlessly: Either pay back the money or die until you delevel. Your choice.

With that, the opponent pressed their advantage, and Jing Huan stopped resisting, quickly being killed and sent back to the respawn point.

Before he could even process this inexplicable death, a large server announcement popped up in the bottom-left corner.

[Announcement] Miss You Relentlessly: Carefree Pavilion will hunt down Don’t Frown 24/7. As per usual, anyone teaming up with her for dungeons—friendly fire won’t be our responsibility.

What’s going on?!

Jing Huan stood at the respawn point lost in thought for a moment, then mounted his steed and galloped toward the forum NPC.

Where there are people, there’s strife. The world of Nine Heroes is a miniature battleground in itself. Naturally, with strife comes friction, and the most well-informed place for drama and gossip—those infamous “818” posts—is none other than the game’s forum.

Jing Huan scrolled down a page and found a post about himself… or rather, about this account.

【Idle Pavilion’s Full-Server Hunt for the Female Scammer “Don’t You Frown”】

Jing Huan skimmed through the messages and finally understood why this account had enemies chasing it down moments after logging in.

The original owner of the account was a scammer. Two years ago, she first deceived the leader of a small guild, cleaned out their account, and even embezzled the guild’s funds. When the scandal broke, she listed the account on the trading platform and walked away without a second thought.

But the story didn’t end there. Within half a month, someone bought the account. The buyer claimed to be a wealthy, well-educated beauty returning from overseas, looking for a powerful guild to raid dungeons and PK together. She quickly infiltrated the server’s top guild, Idle Pavilion, and successfully charmed one of its high-ranking members. The two got married and lived blissfully for over half a year—until the high-ranking member returned from a business trip to find his account cleaned out. Not only that, his “little wife” had also borrowed considerable money and equipment from other guild members in his name before vanishing without a trace again.

It wasn’t until someone noticed that the bank account number she used for borrowing money was exactly the same as the original account holder’s that everyone realized—this account had never changed hands from the very beginning!

At this point, even Jing Huan had to admit his admiration.

With skills like these, why not do something legit?

Scamming both money and emotions—this incident enraged all the big shots in the Idle Pavilion. The two hundred members of the guild began a 24/7 camp on “Don’t You Frown.” After being killed twice, the account was once again listed on the exchange.

The Idle Pavilion couldn’t swallow this insult, spamming countless server-wide announcements and official forum posts, declaring they’d keep killing the account regardless of who bought it. This caused the account to remain unsold for a long time, with its price dropping repeatedly until it finally met a poor soul who bought it blindly——

Which turned out to be himself.

…No wonder the account was so cheap.

Jing Huan expressionlessly scrolled to the last post, where the latest reply read—

1932L: The two biggest players in this server who are notorious for being heartbreakers are “Don’t You Frown” and “Ran Xin.” These two could form a despicable duo and debut together.

Jing Huan memorized the ID of the original poster.

Someone who hadn’t even frowned when being killed earlier now wished they could reach through the screen and beat the person on the other side to a pulp.

“Xiang Si Bu Gu” spammed thirty voice messages in a row, making the world channel buzz with excitement.

[World] Blossoms Bewilder Eyes: What’s going on? Don’t Tell Me You’re Back? Spent all the money you scammed before?

[World] My Destiny Peach Tea: Let me see which guild is suffering this time!

[World] Wind-chasing Youth: Longing for You is awesome!

[World] Wind Freer Than Me: Seriously, frown-lady, why put yourself through this? Can’t you just start fresh with a new account? Why cling to this one doomed to die?

[World] Favorite Peach Tea: Damn it, shut up upstairs! Don’t give bad advice! What if she actually listens to it!

………

The world channel was buzzing with noise, the messages scrolling so fast that no one could even read a single sentence clearly.

It took players a long while to notice the system announcement in yellow font that had already scrolled past.

[System Announcement: Player “Don’t You Frown” has used a Name Change Stone to change their name to “Sweet Scenery.” From now on, player “Don’t You Frown” will officially be known as “Sweet Scenery.”]

[World] Favorite Cheesy Peach: ???

[World] Blossoms Dazzle Eyes: ??

[World] Wind Freer Than Me: ???

[Horn] Little Sweet Scene: Last time I’ll say it, this account has changed hands. Chase and kill as you please, happy to oblige.

He regretted it as soon as the server announcement went out.

Does this tone sound too much like a catfish?

So, while everyone was still in shock, he quickly sent out another announcement.

[Announcement]SweetJing: QAQ Of course, it’s best if we don’t have to fight! Long live harmony!